


The Construct Of Time (Is More Malleable Than You'd Think.)

by CescaLR (orphan_account)



Series: One Shots & One Shot Collections (non-prompted.) [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Gen, One Shot Collection, Other: See Story Notes, Time Travel, and the summaries for the chapters!, and the titles!, as I said previously: please read the story notes!!!!, interconnected/non-connected oneshots, so u kno wat ur gettin into yh mates?? gud
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 06:52:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15165029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/CescaLR
Summary: a series of non-connected/interconnected (specified in notes) one-shots of various Time Travel AUs within various fandoms, mainly BTVS/ATS. Fandoms will be added as is required, however it does mean I will hold back on the tagging; fics with way too many tags put me off, so I'd rather avoid that myself. Read the notes for more details, and each chapter will have its own summary.





	The Construct Of Time (Is More Malleable Than You'd Think.)

**Author's Note:**

> I've read a lot of Time-Travel fics lately, so I figured I'd indulge, but I also know I'm terrible at finishing long-form works (or at least this has appeared to be the case lately; it's rather frustrating, to say the least) so I figured, well, why not? Get into the scheme of things, you know, get my muse back on track. While I figure out shit for my other stories, I figured this might be fun. 
> 
> The endnotes for each chapter will dictate how I think the 'verse would continue, which includes future character drama and relationships. The start notes will contain only what applies to the story that is within the chapter itself.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Start of a time-travel AU with Buffy as the traveller, Cordelia as the instigator and tag-along, and Spike and Faith as the last two people Buffy spoke to before she went back. Starts in the last ep of Buffy s7, and ends during Prophecy Girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: light Violence. blood. Referenced Rape.  
> cw: Spuffy, hinted Fuffy (i hate that ship name), my lack of a handle on Cordelia's voice. I hope I do the Queen justice.

When time slowed around her - or, at the very least seemed to - it was not The First in her own form that appeared to Buffy. "Cordelia?" She said, shocked and surprised and all manner of adjectives that convey a similar sentiment.

"In the incorporeal flesh," The other woman smirked. "Here," She said - and with a wave of her hand, the wound on Buffy's side began to heal. Moments later, it was better, and when Buffy felt the skin there, the skin exposed by the rip in her top, all she felt was the slick stickiness of blood - no wound, no scar.

"It looked like it hurt," Cordelia shrugged, an explanation that Buffy could accept. It _was_ Cordelia Chase, but even she wouldn't leave a wound to fester if she had the power to fix it. "And besides - what's the point of being a Higher Power if you can't heal a few mortal wounds?" Cordelia continued, her question rhetorical.

Buffy blinked at her, the slayer's shock and confusion evident. "Cordelia." She said, again, bemused. "Yes," Cordelia affirmed, rolling her eyes. "We've been over that part, remember?"

"Well, it's majorly suspicious that you're here," Buffy retorted, "As is the slowy-timeness, and the whole... incorporeal and able to heal mortal wounds... thing." Cordelia looked at her, unimpressed and impatient. "I'm not The First," She scoffed. "As if that upstart could imitate me." That did sound like Cordelia, alright. Buffy tilted her head slightly, considering, and frowned a little at the brunette - who had, since Buffy last saw her (which, whoa, was years ago - _yikes_ ), chopped most of her hair off and... added blonde highlights? not the best look, but whatever.

Then Cordelia said, "It's a very good actor," as Buffy narrowed her eyes at Cordelia. "Better than me, yeah yeah," Cordelia dismissed like she used to dismiss everything that didn't concern her, that she could not care any less about even if she tried her damndest. "I've heard that one before." "From who?" Buffy asked, bewildered. "It gets dull as hell, being a Higher Power," Cordelia said, bluntly - the way she said most things; matter-of-fact and completely tactless, honest as anything.

Cordelia had never been a very good liar, from what Buffy remembered of the girl she knew - but, if she was honest... Buffy couldn't know if that was the same; if the woman standing before her had changed overmuch from the teenager she'd been. Buffy hazarded a guess that she had, because, well... the whole 'higher power' weirdness - but... yeah. Cordelia Chase. A Higher Power. Well, Buffy figured she always had considered everyone else beneath her.

"I was a bitch," Cordelia agreed. "And don't you forget that, because I still am. But I've done a lot more sacrificing for the whole saving of the world thing than I've been given credit for, and I'd rather it not all go to waste because of your stupid ass decision to mess with magic set in stone millennia ago. And the _literal embodiment of all evil._ "

"We don't have any other choice," Buffy said, a little angry. "We've done all we can." "And it's not good enough," Cordelia retorted, her snappish and quick response belying the true feelings she tried to hide behind a bored demeanour. "The world still ends. Not now, sure, you buy yourselves some time. You lead the Slayers, kill the demons, ignore LA and it's whole hell-on-earth problem so hard you forget about it right about the time the barrier breaks and that 'hell on earth' thing grows it's coverage a little further than just one little part of America."

"What do you mean by 'a little further'?" Buffy asked warily. "The world, Buffy," Cordelia said, exasperated. "The whole world." "And we all die?" Buffy asked, resigned - she'd died so many times. Maybe at least knowing one of her deaths will stick would be a comfort going forward. There was no way to change what was happening, after all. Maybe they could do something about LA - but with Angel working with Wolfram and Heart, Buffy sincerely doubted that.

"Obviously," Cordelia said. "Hell, for all I know - I lose track of time, sometimes - I could be dead right now, though I do doubt it. I'm pretty sure Spike had already gotten to LA by that point..." She mused, trailing off then shaking her head. "Well," The woman said decidedly. "We don't have too much time - I mean, metaphysically speaking, truthfully, I can keep time passing as slow as I want it to for as long as I want - but The Powers That Be?... well, let's just say they only agreed to this grudgingly, and it took Earth's total annihilation for that to happen." Cordelia paused and looked around.

Buffy followed suit; she saw a girl about to be killed via her neck being snapped, saw another about to stake one of the ubervamps and her friend, behind her, taking a blow that was meant for the first of the two - and she saw Faith, fighting it out with the scythe, killing more Turok-Hans than the creatures themselves landed blows on her... but like Buffy, she was only one woman, and it was only time until she slipped up like Buffy had and got a mortal wound no higher power was going to fix for her.

Buffy looked at them all - at Vi, Amanda, Caridad, Chao-Ahn, Colleen, at Dominique, Rona, Annie, Shannon - she looked at all these girls who had never deserved this. Thought of Willow, upstairs with her magic and her new girlfriend, Kennedy, and Buffy thought of other people - and she knew now, that all of this is for nothing. That even if they all manage to somehow survive tonight, which doesn't look to be the case; Amanda is dead, or at the most seconds away from it - that even if they manage it, it doesn't matter, because years down the line they're all gonna die anyway, along with the rest of... everything.

"So you see," Cordelia said as if she'd read what Buffy was thinking, "I can't let that happen." Cordelia looked Buffy over, considering. Buffy couldn't tell if Cordelia was happy with what she saw - but judging by the sigh the brunette then released, her feelings weren't exactly of-the-good. "And unfortunately, you'll have to do, despite your decidedly god-awful decision-making skills." Cordelia shrugged. "Well, you're gonna need to say your goodbyes - we've got time to travel." Cordelia gestured, and Faith moved mid-swing, the scythe cleanly removing the head from the Turok-Han she was aiming at - but the head didn't move or fall, and Faith blinked at the slow, almost-but-not-quite stillness of the world around her. Spike moved too, finishing a punch he'd been aiming - then he noticed the slowness of time, and he appeared to warily take stock of the surrounding cave.

"C?" Faith asked, surprised. "You." Cordelia returned, obviously displeased. "And the dead one - say your goodbyes," She nodded to Buffy, who moved immediately, with the sudden realisation that she could - "because we don't have long. I have time to bend and a Buffy to deposit somewhen in the past, so let's hurry this along." Buffy glanced at Spike and swallowed heavily, then turned to Faith.

"So this is it then, B?" Faith asked. "You're goin' on a trip we can't follow." Buffy swallowed her pride, her hurt, the years of regret - focused on that small sliver of friendship, focused on whatever it was that possessed her to press her lips to the other's forehead, focused on the feelings that weren't awful. The ones that she'd end up mourning, not the ones she'd happily never have again.

Buffy nodded and hugged Faith - Faith, of course, wasn't one for physical affection that wasn't sex (and even then, the 'affection' part generally seemed to escape her) but she'd gotten better, if not by much. The slayer didn't relax, because there was indeed too much bad blood between these versions of themselves for that, as much as they've half-heartedly tried to mend bridges, but she did pat Buffy on the back and squeezed her arm when Buffy moved away, and that was her returning the hug in a way she was comfortable.

(Gone, of course, were the days where she'd feel comfortable saying 'give us a kiss' even to someone who, at the time, was her enemy. When that 'someone' is a blonde vampire slayer with a name that starts with 'B' and ends with 'uffy', at any rate.)

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "Haven't really had a chance to wig out yet, about the whole time-thing, but yep." She nodded. "All with the time-travel-age."

Apparently.

"And only the one person's going," Cordelia said, frankly. "All offence meant; I hardly even trust her to do it right, but people will listen to Buffy when they wouldn't listen to other people even if they really should. So - Buffy, and Buffy only." "Five-by-Five with me, C," Faith shrugged, rocked back on her heels. "So long as you promise me somethin', yeah, B?" "What?" Buffy asked. One favour - at least that, she could give. "If you can't stop the kill, at least force me to own up about it." Faith said, a little more subdued than usual. "There ain't really a need for me to kill the guy, after all."

"He was actually on his way to explain what the Mayor was up to," Cordelia said, unhelpfully. Faith flinched - Buffy would have missed it if she didn't know what to look for. "So you could have been done with him then if that didn't happen - my point being that, really, it'd be best if Alan hadn't died. So I'd have shoved Buffy in that direction anyway." "Right," Faith said - and there was a whole new world of guilt to repent for, Buffy knew.

Well, if she had any say in the matter, there'd be no need for the guilt, because the deed would never have been done.

"Oh, and you," Cordelia flicked a hand at Spike. "You got your soul on purpose, so where I'm sending Buffy, that's gonna bleed through." Spike blinked at her, confused, but Cordelia barreled on before he could say a word.

"I'm pretty sure the both of you would rather avoid the rape attempt, after all," Cordelia said, casually, but there was a bite - an edge to her tone. "What now?" Faith demanded. "Oh like you're one to talk," Cordelia said, snide. "After what you did to Xander and Riley... and by extension, Buffy herself." Faith paled and closed her eyes, and nodded, and Buffy stared at her, horrified.

"Yeah, we're stopping that," Cordelia said, decidedly. "As well as a bunch of other horrible things. There's no time to say goodbye to anyone else, so get on with it." Buffy closed her eyes and pushed the new, terrible knowledge aside - she'd think about it later. Hate this Faith for it, later, but not the Faith she's going to save.

For now... Buffy turned to Spike and walked over to him. As she did this, Cordelia waved a hand, and Faith returned to the normal time-speed, scythe in hand and mid-stake of the next Turok-han.

"Spike," Buffy said, softly. "Slayer," He returned - Buffy avoided the look in his eyes and took his hand. "I've gotta go," she said.

Buffy closed her eyes.

"I love you." She said, quietly. It was true - maybe. Buffy hadn't - she hadn't had the chance to quite figure it out yet, but at that moment, it felt as true as anything else. "No, you don't," Spike said, with the easy belief of someone who'd been told he was hated over and over and over again until it stuck. "But thanks for saying it." "I _do_." Buffy insisted.

"... I'd like you to." Spike shrugged, "But it's not goin' to happen in my lifetime, luv." His lips twisted, a small smirk of a smile, saddened and genuine.

"I love you." He said, sincere. "I know," Buffy replied, equally sincere. She hoped he could tell that now, after everything - the thought was pleasing, that his love made her happy. "And there we go." Cordelia clapped her hands together.

"Now, shall we?" Then the woman snapped her fingers, said words in a language Buffy had never heard far too quickly to really decipher regardless - and Spike's hand was gone from her own as quickly as consciousness left her.

Afterwards, the fight resumed. But Buffy was nowhere to be found.

Faith turned to throw the scythe to Buffy - but she blinked, frowned, shrugged, and beheaded another uber-vamp. 

Buffy had died years ago, after all. Faith wasn't even sure why she'd thought of her. Faith spared a thought to the two slayers she knew had come before her - Buffy, Kendra. But then, a Turok-Han got a slice in, and Faith pushed aside all thought except the violence she so craved. 

* * *

Buffy wasn't sure where she was, exactly. It was dark and empty - there were sounds, but they were muffled, and there were feelings; metal, the ground beneath feet - but they were subdued. It was like she was underwater, or drugged. Buffy didn't feel like her current situation was either of those things, though.

"Well then," She heard. "July 1977, New York City."

Buffy knew the significance of that. How could she not? Robin's vendetta, and everything surrounding it... It had been a mess. Terrible, and all-consuming, and the First had gotten to Robin during it. Nothing good had come out of that time - nothing at all.

"If you save her, you'll still be called," The voice said.

She should save her. But Buffy recognised that only distantly. She couldn't really feel anything here. Or see. Hear. Think. The voice - Cordelia, Buffy dimly recognised - _harrumphed._

"We'll come back later, then." The Higher Power said, decidedly.

And the world - which was already black, but whatever - went black again.

* * *

"What did I do wrong tonight?" Buffy asked Cordelia. She was staring at the dress she was to wear - the white one, the one she'd loved the look of and had been so happy to get and then promptly died in.

Kind of killed your love for a garment, that.

"Nothing," Cordelia dismissed. "I'm just... getting the hang of it." "You aren't choosing when we go, are you?" Buffy asked the woman. Really, it looked like she was talking to thin air - but whatever. "It's not exactly _easy,_ " Cordelia said, annoyed. "I'm not actually here. I'm there, back at the end of the world. It makes things a little difficult, being decades and a timeline apart from you."

"Oh," Buffy said.

So.

Buffy went through the motions of that night - but she wore a different dress. She _liked_ that dress, damnit, as well as those shoes, and she wasn't about to let dying in them ruin her appreciation.

And then there was Angel. Buffy... Buffy didn't know what to do with Angel. It hurt, to see him; to know what was to come but not how to change it without irrevocably damaging their... whatever.  _Relationship._ Maybe getting sent back in time confused her head, because Buffy hadn't felt this way about Angel for a long time - this giddy, this hopelessly infatuated (god, had she really been that obsessive?) - not since the knowledge that feeling this way could lose him his soul had become known to her. 

 "Just break his heart and send him to LA," Cordelia said, dismissively. "Better he be gone than soulless. And it's better if Willow's magical introduction isn't a centuries-old vengeance curse."

That was true. You could always count on Cordelia Chase to be a blunt bitch - and apparently, that hadn't changed. "I didn't change all that much." Cordelia agreed. "You did. And not really for the better."

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buffy wouldn't sleep with Angel, so Jenny wouldn't die in s2, but Angel does eat the Band Candy, out of compulsion, which returns him to an Angelus/Liam like state. He doesn't kill anyone, but he does have sex, and whoops. Soul has gone that way instead. With no Acathla, but a Mayor instead, it's a little iffy on how the whole soul restoring thing would work out - I feel they'd have gotten Jenny/Jana to spill the beans on the whole thing at some point and Buffy would have made absolutely certain there was always a way to get Angel's soul back. Since that happens, Buffy pretends to find the permanent solution somewhere (maybe in a book, which makes some people a little suspicious because Buffy was never really one with the research) and boom, Angel off in Africa getting his soul all permanent and stuff.   
> I feel like that Demon can do anything it wants with the person's wish, so the whole getting-his-soul-permanent might not be what happens. Up to whomever continues this.   
> Faith doesn't kill Alan, and they get some info, but since he refuses to contact them after in fear of his own life and the mayor and the rest of the supernatural, he still dies to a demon a few days later.   
> They stop the mayor from finishing the ritual - but Buffy has to make a choice regarding killing him or letting Faith - this innocent, savable young girl - die. So she kills him.   
> Idk about spike and drusilla. Maybe they go to africa, following Angel to get his blood to fix her? How that would turn out, idk.   
> Buffy would try her best to avoid the whole xander-cheats-on-cordy-wth-willow-who-cheats-on-Oz-to-do-that-very-thing... sitch. Maybe, like in some stories (and my preffered explanation) it's actually a spell/demon - maybe Skip trying to get Cordelia to LA, by having Xander break her heart? I've heard that line of thought and it wouldn't surprise me. Jasmine had it all sorted out from the very beginning.   
> Since Cordy's there and she knows about the LA stuff, when Joyce finds out and kicks her out because I don't think that would change - and Buffy needs the excuse to go to LA to save the people at the Youth place anyway - she gets buffy to set up some foundations and help with the whole Dennis sitch.   
> Maybe some other stuff?? Like Fred? idk. This is a way more experienced Buffy and Cordy, after all.   
> Cordy's a higher power who's been given a kind of cover-all blessing to act as she wishes regarding the whole time-travel thing because, well, her idea, and really, it couldn't make things worse.   
> idk about how strong she'd be outside of helping Buffy move through time. And also her being there might impact Buffy's ability to get involved with someone, or it might not. Decisions.   
> Buffy saves tara. No ifs, and, or buts about it. She. Saves. Tara. Simply by getting Warren dealt with earlier.   
> Bc of Cordy, Buffy can't forget the whole ben-is-glory thing. It takes her a while to decide how to deal with that - if she tells the rest of them and blames it on ___, or if she deals with Ben herself.   
> And idk about the rest. As for future pairings... spuffy or fuffy or literally whatever, though I think strong Buffy&Cordy friendship, with both Cordys.   
> This is one of those going-to-specific-days/moments-in-time time travel fics, not a whole returning-to-a-specific-point-and-then-continuing-continuously-from-there one. So they could jump to a future point and have it be totally different from what they remember, so they have to go back and and control the butterfly effect. Idk, I think that could be fun for people who plot things better than I.   
> Anyway! That's it for what I can think of :).

**Author's Note:**

> Always know that this work is free to adopt ideas from, so long as you credit. You can borrow the whole plot I line out or go an entirely different direction, the only thing I ask is that you don't copy my work word-for-word; if you want, you can quote little bits, but I would prefer it, if what you make is a continuation and not inspired or a remix, that you did not and simply ask the readers to read mine in the notes. Also, if you do adopt any of these, tell me!!! I'd love to read that <3 :D. Creative ideas should be shared and cultivated, not sequestered away and used solely by a single individual.


End file.
